BandLab and Sony team up with new partnership to empower creators

BandLab and Sony have teamed up to launch a new partnership that aims to empower creators.

Announced today (April 29), the first phase of the partnership will see Sony integrate its Spatial Sound technology, 360 Reality Audio, directly into the BandLab app, allowing users to experience and make music on spatial audio.

Then, starting this summer, BandLab users will be able to access a “curated collection of
spatial-enabled beats” in the BandLab Sounds marketplace, before having the opportunity to build on them in BandLab Studio by adding vocals, instruments, and additional production.

The partnership will open up future opportunities to integrate “new technology and accessible tools for music creation while providing exclusive access to newly developed educational programmes.”

It will also “create additional opportunities to amplify BandLab artist success stories to a global audience”.

Speaking on the new partnership, CEO and Co-Founder of BandLab Technologies Meng Ru Kuok, said: “By working with Sony Corporation, we’re combining our strengths to empower creators at every step of their journey. It’s not just about what artists can do today, but about what becomes possible when they’re given the right support to experiment and grow.”

Meanwhile, Masaaki Oshima, Head of Personal Entertainment Business Unit, Sony Corporation added: “By integrating our audio products and technology into BandLab’s ecosystem, we’re not only expanding access to immersive audio tools, but also strengthening our connection with the pro-consumer market, enhancing the way music is created and experienced. We’re excited to see how artists push creative boundaries with these new possibilities.”

A notable one in recent years being NME Cover star alumni D4VD, who shot into the charts in 2021 with music he made on BandLab.

Speaking to NME in 2022, D4VD told us why he began using the platform: “So my relationship with BandLab has been amazing in that I can make music literally from my closet. The CEO reached out a couple of weeks ago and said he was amazed that somebody who has used the platform he made has managed to get on the Billboard [200 singles] chart.

“[BandLab] has literally changed my life,” he continued. “I couldn’t ask for more – it’s allowed me to make music from my house without any professional mic, as I literally just use Apple earbuds and the app on my phone. I’m able to make the music that I like without compromise.”

The musician went on to say: “I didn’t even watch a YouTube tutorial, everything is really laid out for you on BandLab – kudos to the creators because the user interface is so user-friendly. I was able to just get on there with a stock preset, dabbled in EQ and reverb, and started making my own music. But I just dabbled in it myself and created a whole array of presets for myself to use.”

Since then, he supported SZA on tour in 2023, and has contributed songs to TV show soundtracks like Arcane and Invincible. NME caught up with him this year, and he told us how looking back at those early recordings helped fuel his songwriting sessions for his new album ‘Withered’.

“I [was] just filtering through my own work and how I really created a genre,” he explained. “I had to go back to that and realise that all of the data and information I was reaching for was already there – on BandLab, on my phone, in previous file sessions.”

BandLab Technologies and NME are both part of the Caldecott Music Group.

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